United Way of Elkhart County provided a $2,500 Innovation Grant in support of the two-week Write on Sports camp for middle-school students this summer. Read full article »

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(L-R) Bill Rieth, President/CEO at United Way of Elkhart County; Seth Conley, associate professor of communication at Goshen College and assistant director of Write on Sports Goshen; and Todd Yoder, major gifts officer at Goshen College and Write on Sports Goshen board member.

United Way of Elkhart County provided a $2,500 Innovation Grant in support of the two-week Write on Sports camp for middle-school students this summer.

The Write on Sports camp at Goshen College included interviews with journalists from The Goshen News, The Elkhart Truth and WNDU-TV; and with athletes like Errick McCollum, a Goshen College graduate who played for the Denver Nuggets team in the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League before being recently signed by Chinese professional team Zhejiang Chouzhou Bank.

Twenty students participated in the second annual Write on Sports Goshen camp, double the number of campers who enrolled in 2013.

The Goshen camp is an affiliate of Write on Sports, an organization in its ninth year of operation in New Jersey, under the direction of founder Byron Yake, a 1961 graduate of Goshen College and former national sports editor and executive with the Associated Press.

United Way’s Innovation Grants are intended to assist in developing creative ways to address key issues within the areas of education, income and health.

Write on Sports, which one Goshen seventh-grader described as the “best camp ever,” is accepting applications from students who will be entering seventh and eighth grades. The second annual Write on Sports camp will be held at Goshen College from July 7 through 18. Read full article »

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Participants in the 2013 Write on Sports camp run a practice lap with Justin Gillette, a Goshen marathon runner who is ranked fifth in the world in total victories. (Photo by Brian Yoder Schlabach)

Write on Sports, which one Goshen seventh-grader described as the “best camp ever,” is accepting applications from students who will be entering seventh and eighth grades.

The second annual Write on Sports camp will be held at Goshen College from July 7 through 18.

During the camp, students will interview athletes, including Justin Gillette, a Goshen marathoner who is ranked fifth in the world in total victories, and Gaby Romo, an all-state soccer player for Goshen High School who now plays for Indiana University/Purdue University at Fort Wayne.

Students will also learn interviewing techniques from journalists with The Goshen News and The Elkhart Truth.

Field trips include a visit to Notre Dame University, WNDU-TV studios, and a South Bend Silver Hawks game, where students will have a chance to interview team members before the game.

Students will write sports stories and create videos during the two weeks; their work will be published online at www.goshen.edu/writeonsports and in a camp magazine.

The camp is free, with scholarships made possible by the Elkhart County Community Foundation, the Maple Leaf Athletic Club, MutualBank, the Windward Foundation and other donors. Lunch will be provided each day.

Write on Sports participants interview members of the South Bend Silver Hawks baseball team before a game in 2013. (Photo by Josh Gleason)

For more information or to apply, call (574) 535-7881 or write to events@goshen.edu. The Goshen camp is a partnership of Goshen College and Goshen Community Schools and is an extension of the Write on Sports organization, based in New Jersey. Students who live in other school districts are also invited to apply.

Byron Yake, a former national sports editor with The Associated Press and a 1971 Goshen College graduate, established the program in 2006. The Goshen camp was the first Write on Sports camp launched outside of New Jersey.

In this second year, the Goshen camp is expected to serve twice as many students as in 2013. Several scholarships remain to be awarded, on a first-come-first-served basis.

“We’re so pleased that all of the first-year campers who were eligible to return to camp have applied for a second summer,” said Duane Stoltzfus, a Goshen College communication professor who is directing the Goshen camp. “In doing so, they become our best ambassadors in making the case that sports and writing form a winning partnership.”

]]>https://www.goshen.edu/news/2014/05/14/goshen-camp-combines-sports-writing-winning-partnership/feed/0Write on Sports camp at Goshen College introduces middle schoolers to journalismhttps://www.goshen.edu/news/2013/07/16/write-on-sports-camp-at-goshen-college-introduces-middle-schoolers-to-journalism/
https://www.goshen.edu/news/2013/07/16/write-on-sports-camp-at-goshen-college-introduces-middle-schoolers-to-journalism/#respondTue, 16 Jul 2013 18:54:52 +0000https://www.goshen.edu/news/?p=7823Ten rising middle schoolers from the Goshen area are blending a love of sports with a love of journalism by participating in Goshen College’s Write on Sports camp from July 8-19, 2013.
Read full article »]]>

Participants in the Write on Sports camp at Goshen College run a practice lap with Goshen marathoner Justin Gillete. Gillette is ranked fifth in the world in marathon wins. (Photo by Brian Yoder Schlabach)

Ten rising middle schoolers from the Goshen area are blending a love of sports with a love of journalism by participating in Goshen College’s Write on Sports camp from July 8-19, 2013.

Write on Sports originated in New Jersey in 2005 by Byron Yake, a former national sports editor with the Associated Press and a 1961 Goshen College graduate. The 2013 Goshen camp is the first to take place outside of New Jersey.

“Write on Sports blends sports and writing in such a way that you learn almost unawares because you get caught up in excitement of sports and the interactions between journalists and athletes,” said Goshen College Professor of Communication Duane Stoltzfus, director of the Write on Sports Goshen camp.

The campers can then take the interviewing and writing skills they develop during the camp, Stoltzfus explained, and apply them to other subjects when they return to school in the fall.

Throughout the camp, participants work on spot stories — brief news feature articles that are written in a short period of time — which are then published as posts on the camp blog. In addition to writing three to four blog posts apiece, students each work on a longer feature story, which will be combined into a small book. Each student also has the chance to create a video on a sports-related topic of his or her choosing that will be shown to parents on the final day.

Participants in the Write on Sports camp at Goshen College interview players on the South Bend Silverhawks baseball team before a game. (Photo by Josh Gleason)

A highlight of the camp for many participants was a July 10 field trip to Notre Dame, where they had the chance to tour the digital media suite and the press box and interview two Notre Dame football players, a Notre Dame women’s basketball player and Jack Nolan, a longtime basketball announcer. Campers also got to interview three South Bend Silver Hawks players and a pitching coach and attend a Silver Hawks game.

“One of my favorite parts (of camp) was probably going to Notre Dame,” said Diego Torres, who will be entering seventh grade at Goshen Middle School in the fall. “It was really cool to get to go into the locker room and on the field.”

During the two week camp, participants have the chance to interview a variety of people involved in athletics or journalism, including Anthony Anderson, assistant sports editor at The Elkhart Truth, Justin Gillette, a Goshen College graduate who is ranked fifth in the world in marathon wins; Natalie Newell, softball pitcher for Bethel College who led her team to the national tournament in 2013; Greg Keim, Goshen News sports reporter; and Jason Samuel, general manager of 91.1 FM The Globe.

LiAnna Overman, who will be a seventh grader at Goshen Middle School, said that she “liked getting to interview people because you get to explore your own mind. You can think of questions that you probably never thought of before.”

Stoltzfus plans to hold Write on Sports at Goshen again next year, and he hopes for more campers. “We hope that the campers who are participating this year will be our best ambassadors when talking with their friends about why they too should be interested in joining Write on Sports,” he said.

The camp, made possible through collaboration between Goshen College, Goshen Community Schools and Write on Sports, is tuition free.

– By Lauren Stoltzfus

View this Goshen Commons video about the 2013 Write on Sports camp:

]]>https://www.goshen.edu/news/2013/07/16/write-on-sports-camp-at-goshen-college-introduces-middle-schoolers-to-journalism/feed/0Free Write on Sports summer camp accepting middle school applicationshttps://www.goshen.edu/news/2013/06/06/free-write-on-sports-summer-camp-accepting-middle-school-applications/
https://www.goshen.edu/news/2013/06/06/free-write-on-sports-summer-camp-accepting-middle-school-applications/#respondThu, 06 Jun 2013 14:39:03 +0000https://www.goshen.edu/news/?p=7575A two-week day camp called Write on Sports is accepting applications from students who will be entering seventh and eighth grades. Read full article »]]>

A two-week day camp in Goshen called Write on Sports is accepting applications from students who will be entering seventh and eighth grades.

During the camp, students will interview local athletes, including Justin Gillette, a Goshen marathoner who has won more than 60 races across the country, and Natalie Newell, a standout pitcher who led the Bethel College softball team to the NAIA national tournament.

Students will learn interviewing techniques from journalists with The Goshen News and The Elkhart Truth, as well as from Vince Turner, a MutualBank vice president and a member of the Elkhart County Sports Hall of Fame who covered games as a writer with The Truth and a broadcaster with WTRC radio.

Field trips will include a visit to Notre Dame University and a South Bend Silverhawks game, where students will have a chance to interview team members before the game.

Students will write sports stories and create videos during the camp, which will be held July 8-19 at Goshen College. The camp is free, with scholarships made possible by the Maple Leaf Athletic Club, the Windward Foundation and other donors. Lunch will be provided.

For more information or to apply, call (574) 535-7881 or write to events@goshen.edu. The Goshen camp is a partnership of Goshen College and Goshen Community Schools and is an extension of the Write on Sports organization, based in New Jersey. Students who live in other school districts are also invited to apply.

Byron Yake ’61, a former national sports editor with The Associated Press and a Goshen College graduate, established the program in 2006. The Goshen camp will be the first Write on Sports camp outside of New Jersey.

“We’re very excited about the prospects for natural learning that will happen when sports and writing are joined,” said Duane Stoltzfus, Goshen College communication professor and director of the Goshen camp. “The skills that students hone during these two weeks will carry over into writing about other subjects when they return to school in the fall.”